11 July,2011 08:17 AM IST | | Alifiya Khan
Supply outstrips demand for second year in a row; officials contemplate restricting number of new colleges and seats
Thisu00a0year too supply has outstripped demand as far as engineering admissions go. After the poor statistics encountered last year, when 2,000 engineering seats were vacant because of lack of applications, the same story has repeated itself. Only, the demand has become even lesser this time around.
This time, 3,410 engineering seats are vacant across colleges in the state, prompting officials to seriously think of ways to rectify the situation. According to figures obtained from the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), the total number of seats available in the state is 1,14,268. The total number of applications received for engineering admissions were 1,10,858; pointing to a deficit of more than 3,400 seats.
Norms revised
This is the situation despite the fact that in a desperate bid to fill up vacant seats, the norms for eligibility were also revised. Instead of 50 per cent cut-off marks in Std XII examinations as a pre-condition for application to engineering colleges, the cut-offs were dropped to 45 per cent for general and 40 per cent in case of reserved seats.
"Initially, the last date was July 2, but as applications were lesser and overall MH-CET entrance results were lower, the cut-offs were dropped. But even that didn't have much impact as the final number of applications were also very low," said a DTE official.
Increase in seats
DTE Director S K Mahajan said the vacant seats could be because of the newer engineering colleges that have come up. "There are a lot of new engineering colleges and institutes that have come up recently and that's why there is a feeling that many seats are vacant. It is not because the number of applications has dropped drastically, but because the number of seats has increased," he said.
According to him, the Higher and Technical Education Ministry was also aware of the statistics and was contemplating restricting the number of new engineering colleges. "The topic was discussed a few days ago and talks are in progress on whether seats need to be restricted," said Mahajan.
1,14,268 Total number of engineering seats in the state
1,10,858 Number of applications received for engineering course
